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980m a week but is boss ‘Drastic’ Dave Lewis off to Unilever? DAILY BRIEFING: Should i invest in solar energy Airport saw passenger numbers increase by 2.

If you want to profit from renewable energy but the thought of solar panels on your roof seems too expensive or a wind farm in your garden sounds too noisy, you could benefit by investing in a new breed of funds and trusts. Energy companies are hitting the headlines again after price hikes have arrived in time for winter and part of the driving force for rising bills is the Government’s commitment to – and subsidies for – green energy. The government is aiming to provide 15 per cent of energy from renewable sources in 2020, up from 3 per cent in 2009, and to do that it needs to subsidise solar, wind and other renewable energy sources. That means that there is a lot of opportunity for businesses providing solar panels and wind power sites.

However, these do rely on continued government support for renewable sources and schemes such as feed-in-tariffs. The government has a number of incentives for households and businesses to use renewable energy through feed-in-tariffs. For example, the government is aiming to produce 20gigawatts of solar power capacity in the UK by 2020, but so far has only produced 2gigawatts. This has created a solid investment for those willing to take subsidies for solar panels on their roof. But if you’d rather not be lumbered with something so permanent, a fund or trust could help you tap into the investment idea. On the one hand, you could get paid for energy produced through solar panels put on a residential or commercial building, which in returns help the government meet its carbon reduction targets.